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4 August 2026

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Opinion

Let’s fix school structures, then we can turn to curriculum

It’s eight years this month since Michael Gove slammed the Academies Act through the Commons and gave us the complicated landscape of academies, free schools and other issues that we all now face. On Tuesday I was asked by the Education Policy Institute to look back across the years and highlight if it was all […]

It’s not true that academies care more about money than pupils

Contrary to the claims of some researchers, academisation is not creating a market, and it is not putting finances ahead of pupil success, says Martyn Oliver Some things never change. Exams finished, the sun shining, and pupils, parents and teachers nervously wondering if the little voice in their head whispering “it’s coming home” is correct. […]

The schools that are building democracy into their education

This week has been declared the UK’s first-ever ‘National democracy week’ in an effort to get people more interested in politics. Here Fiona Carnie celebrates the schools that already get pupils, parents and teachers involved in the way things are run. One fundamental principle of democracy is that it allows people to participate in decisions […]

How to manage a mobile phone ban in schools

Collecting pupils’ phones isn’t an invasion of privacy – it’s a sensible way to run a school, explains Peter Lee. Banning mobile phones isn’t as rare or shocking as some seem to think it is. In fact, every school I’ve worked in has banned mobile phones to some extent. Yet after the culture secretary Matt […]

Ofsted requires improvement – but how do we get there?

Ofsted’s name is mud this week. Amanda Spielman’s speech at last week’s Festival of Education went down like a lead balloon after she announced that grades for overall school effectiveness are “not effort grades”. Then she suggested that schools in white working class areas get lower grades partly because local families may not have the […]

The early-learning goals aren’t there yet!

The review of early-years assessment has morphed into a review of the curriculum by the back door, argues Beatrice Merrick Following apprehensive rumblings on social media about the review of the early-learning goals, it’s no surprise that the DfE orchestrated a chorus of positive comment to greet the minister’s announcement of the draft revisions. Headteacher […]

Graduate recruiters are clamouring for more talented women – and schools should be afraid

Gender pay rules are making corporations jittery, and rightly so. As Schools Week recently revealed, academy trusts usually have way more low-paid women than high-paid ones, which causes an imbalance in average pay. Reputationally speaking, this is bad for academy trusts. But for banks, retailers and large consulting firms, the damage is even greater because […]

Booze and backroom deals are under the accounting spotlight

The ESFA’s annual academies accounts direction document is usually fairly dry, but this year there are few more important things for trusts to look out for, writes Phillip Reynolds The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) have released the academies accounts direction (AAD) 2017 to 2018 – a nattily named document that offers guidance on […]

Punk leadership means daring to think outside the system

The education community has a jaundiced view of school leadership at present, which is seen as risk-averse or even cowardly, says Keziah Featherstone has seen the alternative It’s doubtful that the model answer to the interview question “describe your leadership style” involves exhibiting so little moral backbone that you’ll do almost anything in pursuit of […]